R. Douglas Hurt

In 2015, Hurt published Agriculture and the Confederacy: Policy, Productivity, and Power in the Civil War South. According to David K. Thomson, Hurt's “focus on an environmental history of the war with a decided fusion with the history of capitalism” sets apart his work from other authors. Louis Ferleger stated the book as “Hurt's brilliant analysis” in which he “meticulously examines the pattern of southern agriculture and its impact on southern society”.

Hurt's book, ‘’The Great Plains during World War II’’ received the Kansas City Star Noteworthy Book Award and the Choice Outstanding Academic Title in 2008. The book is reviewed as “a thorough analysis of the period from the war's beginning to its conclusion”. According to Greg Hall, “his best chapters are those that distinguish the Great Plains experience from that of the rest of the country”. Michael W. Schuyler reviewed that “This is an outstanding book that will be of interest not only to professional historians but also to general readers with an interest in the history and development of the Great Plains”, and stated that “This is history at its best—both scholarly and fascinating reading—and is indispensable for our understanding of the Great Plains experience during the Second World War”.

In 1992, Hurt published his book titled, Agriculture and Slavery in Missouri's Little Dixie, for which he received the Theodore Saloutos Award by the Agricultural History Society, and the Missouri History Book Award by the State Historical Society of Missouri. The book was reviewed as “a welcome addition to the literature”. According to D. Clayton Brown, “students of agricultural history and antebellum history should know this book”.

This book has been reviewed as “a solidly researched, informed account that fills a vacant niche in the historical literature”. In a review, David E. Schob stated that the book “may well be the best volume published in agricultural history in 1992”.

Following his postdoctoral fellowship, Hurt held the position of a visiting assistant professor at Texas Tech University, 1977–1978. He then held concurrent appointments as a curator of agricultural history at the Ohio Historical Society and as an adjunct associate professor of history at the Ohio State University. From 1986 till 1989, he was the associate director of the State Historical Society of Missouri. He then joined Iowa State University as an associate professor in 1989 and was promoted to professor in 1992. In 2003, Hurt left Iowa State University to become professor and head of the department of history at Purdue University. He remained head of the department until 2018.

Hurt studied at Fort Hays State University and received his bachelor's degree and master's degree in 1969 and 1971, respectively. He then earned his doctoral degree from Kansas State University in 1975. He has been a Smithsonian Postdoctoral-Fellow in the History of Science and Technology, 1976–1977.

Hurt is known for his research on the Great Plains, Civil War, Native Americans, technology, and the American South, West, and Midwest, as well as the Green Revolution. His work places the economic and political aspects of agricultural history in an environmental and social context. Hurt is the author of numerous books including ’’The Ohio Frontier: Crucible of the Old Northwest, 1720-1830’’, ’'The Great Plains during World War II’’, The Big Empty: The Great Plains in the Twentieth Century, Agriculture and the Confederacy: Policy, Productivity, and Power in the Civil War South, Food, Agriculture during the Civil War, and The Green Revolution: Science, Politics, and Unintended Consequences, among others.

Hurt published his book The Ohio Frontier: Crucible of the Old Northwest, 1720–1830 in 1996. The book gathered numerous reviews including a review by E. J. Fabyan, stating that “finally, after nearly twenty-five years, a high quality general history of the frontier period of the state of Ohio is now available”. The book is “a dynamic account of the Ohio frontier that should delight both trans-Appalachian frontier scholars and interested amateurs”. In another review, the book was stated as “extremely readable and exciting treatments of the region during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries”. Kay J. Karr noted that “readers who are looking for such a straightforward, no-nonsense approach will appreciate his (Hurt's) clarity.”